Decken, KARL KLAUS VON DER

Decken, KARL KLAUS VON DER, an ill-fated African traveller, was born 8th August 1833, at Kotzen, in the Mark of Brandenburg, passed from the gymnasium of Lüneburg, and the cadets' college at Hanover, into the Hanoverian army, which he left after ten years' service (1860) to follow his bent towards travel. On Barth's advice he went to Zanzibar, and started thence on a journey to Lake Nyassa, which failed through the treachery of his Arab guide. Next year he started on a second and successful journey to the mountain-regions of Kilima-Njaro. In the following year, with O. Kersten, he climbed that mountain to the height of 13,780 feet. In 1863 he made an extensive voyage along the east coast of Africa, after which he returned to Europe to plan a great expedition for the exploration of East African rivers. This journey ended in disaster, and Decken was murdered by a Somali on the 25th September 1865. Only five Europeans and six negroes of his company managed to reach Zanzibar. See Kersten's Von der Decken's Reisen in Ostafrika (4 vols. 1869-79).